“Being involved in the program for five years, I’ve worked under some great coaches who have developed me a lot,” the 32-year-old said.

“It was nice last (Wednesday) night to make a few phone calls to those people who have helped me along the way, in terms of Andy (Allthorpe), ‘DOK’ (O’Keefe) and Cameron Loftus, who got me into the program to start with in the under-16s.”